The Resident Bitch's Movie Log - Volume 2

The Resident Bitch's Movie Log

Volume 2

I started The Resident Bitch's Movie Log in 2015 and it's getting a bit hard to manage, so I'm starting a new thread.

A Note About My Rating System: I'm not super strict about what a film must accomplish in order to get a high rating from me. I mostly take into account my overall enjoyment of the film, how the finished piece compared to my expectations, and how well I connected to the story and its characters. I may add or subtract a half a popcorn box or two for more specific things like performances and cinematography if there was something that stood out as particularly good or particularly bad about a movie.

A rating of

or higher means I liked the film. Anything above that is a measure of how much I liked it. A rating of

means I was fairly apathetic to it, and anything below that is just a measure of how much I disliked it.

EDIT FOR 2021: I'm preparing for the 2000s countdown and have made a separate thread for my thoughts on those movies here: The Resident Bitch Prepares for the MoFo 2000s Countdown


2020
January
The Breakfast Club
Pretty Baby
Pride
Moonstruck
Joker
Wedding Crashers
Dark City
The Tree of Life
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
February
The Hunt
Being There
Quills
Django Unchained
Fury at Furnace Creek
March
Rango
Eyes Wide Shut
Brick
Starship Troopers
Drive
Peeping Tom
The Wicker Man (1973)
Pickup On South Street
The Fly
A History of Violence
Mystic River
25th Hour
Judgment at Nuremberg
April
Near Dark
Onward
The Hateful Eight
Bone Tomahawk
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
The Mask of Zorro
Legends of the Fall
Becoming Bulletproof
The Dark Valley
The Tracker
Slow West
Dead Man
Seraphim Falls
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Hell or High Water
May
Let the Bullets Fly
Giant
Hidalgo
Aferim!
Once Upon a Time In the West
The Revenant
The Matrix
Genocide
Blue Ruin
In Pursuit of Honor
The Last Picture Show
Pain and Glory
Queen of Hearts
Waco: The Rules of Engagement
State of Siege
Shine
Mildred Pierce
I, Daniel Blake
Inglourious Basterds
Joker
June
Jojo Rabbit
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Proposition
July
The Age of Innocence
Fox and His Friends
August
Christiane F.
Al-Mummia/The Night of Counting the Days
Stand By Me
The Reflecting Skin
The Great Mouse Detective
Le Samouraļ
Hunger
The Fisher King

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The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/02/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Citizen Rules
Rewatch: Yes.

"It's kind of social. Demented and sad, but social."

When I last did my top 100 movies, I had The Breakfast Club ranked in my top 20. If I were to redo the list today, it would probably rank considerably lower.

Which is not to say that I don't still love it. I do - and still consider it a favorite - but there are parts that bother me and it's sometimes just downright corny. I've always hated Allison's makeover scene (actually, I pretty much hate everything Claire does) and Andrew's fist-pumping dance/run/whatever around the library, but I think I hate them even more with every rewatch.

That said, I've always related to some degree to Allison and Brian and have long struggled with my own feelings of inadequacy and invisibility. John has always been my favorite character though. He's by far the funniest of the group, but also has the most heartbreaking backstory. I may have had a bit of a crush on him growing up. And maybe I still do.

Despite its flaws, this is still to me the quintessential 80s movie. It still makes me laugh. It still makes me cry. And I still love it.

+

Wow look at you. You weren't sure about starting a reviews thread; you needed me to convince you (yup still taking credit! ), and now you're on to a volume 2! And a great film to kick it off

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Volume two? Oh snap! I’m ready whatever it’s called... and what a start to the thread!

I saw this movie for the first time last year I think it was. And I really enjoyed it.

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Just last year? I guess better late than never.

I grew up watching it and have always loved it, but I have to wonder what I would think if I hadn't seen it until I was an adult. It's the only one of Hughes's teen movies that I watched growing up and is still the only one I like. The lack of Judd Nelson in the others may be a contributing factor.

I still haven't seen it yet but obviously that'll change soon.

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Lists and Projects
Letterboxd

At your age, I suppose that can be forgiven.

Pretty Baby (Louis Malle, 1978)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/03/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by pahaK
Rewatch: No.

Well that was icky. And sad. And kind of confusing. But mostly icky.

The cause of the icky-ness and sadness is pretty obvious, but what makes it confusing is that I have really conflicting thoughts on both the events of the film and certain casting choices. Or rather, one casting choice. It's not often that I'm bothered by watching sexual content, but this bothered me quite a bit - which I suppose is a testament to the film. It's full of sex and yet is not at all sexy - and in the middle of this you have a character (and an actress) who is only a child. I was not okay with watching a 12 year old Brooke Shields doing what she was doing.

But despite my discomfort, there were things I appreciated about the film. It's beautifully shot with wonderful lighting and sumptuous colors. It also offers up a group of characters that, for the most part, are many shades of gray. They're complicated and full of contradictions and the cast all do well to bring them to life.

Overall I think it's a pretty solidly crafted film but - though I admire its boldness in its storytelling - I can't get over my hangups with it and simply didn't like it.

Correction. It was December 2018. But yeah... gave it the same rating as you minus the plus though.

The area I’m hugely lacking in when it comes to films has always been the teen dramas or romantic movies with cult statuses and whatnot. I’ve not even seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Or Dirty Dancing or The Notebook or all that stuff.

I never made it all of the way through Ferris Bueller or Dirty Dancing and never even bothered with The Notebook. Heathers and Saved! are pretty much the only non-Breakfast Club teen movies I like.

Pride (Matthew Warcus, 2014)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/04/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by TheUsualSuspect
Rewatch: No.

Somehow I don't think I'd ever heard of this film prior to its nomination here. As a general rule, I try to avoid live-action films that can be described as "heartwarming." I'm all for emotional movies, but I favor the ones that make me cry from sadness, not joy.

Pride had me shedding tears of both kinds and it did warm my bitter little heart. As per usual, I'm not at all familiar with the actual history behind this story and I don't really care to know. What I do know and what I do care about is that it features some very heartfelt and funny performances and a really engaging story.

It's not without its flaws though as it does get pretty silly at times - even to the point where it's a bit difficult to suspend disbelief - but overall it succeeds admirably in telling a sweet and easily relatable story of love, acceptance, and an unlikely alliance.

+

Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/05/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by edarsenal
Rewatch: Yes.

One of these days I might watch an edarsenal nomination and really love it and be thankful for having been exposed to it. Today is not that day.

Granted, this is technically a rewatch. I'd seen it a few times as a child, but I remembered almost nothing about it so it might as well have been the first time. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the film. The story was fine. The performances were fine. It looked good. It had a nice soundtrack. But damn were those people f***ing annoying and I just didn't give a crap about any of them. I just don't get the appeal of watching a bunch of loud-mouthed, superstitious, and overly dramatic people fight with and cheat on each other.

But I suppose it could've been worse. There weren't any naked kids at least.

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Glad you liked Pride! Had only heard of it when looking up Bill Nighy films and it's one of my go-to feel good movies. Andrew Scott is great in everything I've seen him in and quickly becoming a favorite. Not sure if you'd like Fleabag but I think you'd like the Hot Priest.

Would MV like Fleabag? Y'know, I hadn't thought of it. But now I want her to watch it to see which way she goes.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Two requests for watching Fleabag! I liked the first season but the second season was very near perfect. Fleabag, Midsommar and The Peanut Butter Falcon are my favorite things from 2019. The Peanut Butter Falcon is a bit too heartwarming for your taste (on top of your dislike of Shia LeBeouf) and I'd bet that you'd dislike Midsommar BUT I'd really like to read your review and reaction to Midsommar. It's a little closer to The Strange Thing About the Johnsons than Hereditary IMO.

I agree with FF about the first series beng good, but the second is really where it goes to another level, IMO. That's where the heart is.

Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/07/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Joaquin Phoenix
Rewatch: Yes.


This was my fourth time seeing Joker and Phoenix was just as mesmerizing as before. He's creepy and yet almost sympathetic. It's a masterful performance that is very darkly funny in ways that make you squirm with discomfort while you laugh, but he also lends a lot of humanity to the character.

I really hope that 2020 is the year he finally gets his long overdue Oscar.

Wedding Crashers (David Dobkin, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/10/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by rauldc13
Rewatch: Yes.


Wedding Crashers has never been a favorite, but I always liked it. That is, until now. It's been so long since I've seen Owen Wilson in anything that I'd forgotten just how irritating he is when he's doing anything other than voicing Lightning McQueen (to say nothing of how much I hate Will Ferrell and dislike Bradley Cooper). Not helping the situation was just how much of a douchebag Wilson's character John was in inserting himself into the Cleary family, pursuing someone in a committed relationship, and then the BS he pulled at his best friend's wedding. What an a**hole.

Which is not to say that Jeremy was a gem, but he at least wasn't pining after a girl he barely knew. Of course his situation is helped by the fact that I do still enjoy Vince Vaughn and found him to be the one significantly positive part of the film. That said though, his fast-talking brand of humor works so much better for me in other films, such as in Dobkin's first feature Clay Pigeons.

Overall, the jokes were more miss than hit. Comedies just don't often age well for me and this was definitely not an exception to that.

Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)
Imdb

Date Watched:01/28/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by wyldesyde19
Rewatch: Yes

I generally don't care for heavy Sci-Fi and I struggle with suspension of disbelief, so a film about a dying alien race that holds a group of humans captive and modifies their memories for experimental purposes is pretty well out of my comfort zone. Fortunately Dark City features a strong cast, an intriguing premise, loads of atmosphere, and a short enough run-time to keep me from losing interest. But only just.

One of the biggest problems with Sci-Fi films is that they often rely heavily on special effects and, more often than not, those effects don't age very well. I think this is true, at least in part, of this more than twenty year old film. In particular, the final battle between Murdoch and the stranger just looks downright silly and took me out of the film.

The other thing I struggled with is the underdevelopment of its peripheral characters. I understand that this is necessary given the premise, but I generally find it much easier to engage with a film when I'm invested in the people in it. It's a rare occasion when a movie can keep me totally enthralled with only story and imagery and, though it does offer a decent amount of development for Murdoch's character at least, Dark City is not one of those exceptions.

That said, I've seen this movie on a number of occasions, including during its original theatrical release and have always liked it. I last watched it in 2016 in preparation for the MoFo Sci-Fi Countdown and I rated it a 3.5+ at that time. I liked it a little less this time around but I still think it's pretty solid.


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The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
Imdb

Date Watched:01/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by ahwell
Rewatch: No.

Although there's no denying that The Tree of Life is a visually beautiful movie, I spent nearly the entirety of the film being utterly bored by it.

Granted, my atheism doesn't exactly predispose me to enjoying a film that ruminates on the concepts of faith and the origins of humanity (though at some points I contemplated prayer - or rather I nearly prayed for the film to end) but the way it is constructed was just a huge turn-off for me. By the time the overly long Discovery Channel-esque footage of volcanic activity, the oceans, and dinosaurs finally ended, that tiny window of opportunity the film had to make me give a **** had closed and I had mentally checked out. Though I was at least thankful for the lack of people in monkey suits screeching and banging on rocks (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I also found incredibly dull).

But the clash between the film's take on God and my own aside, when what passes for a story did begin to unfold I again found myself repelled and unable to connect. I found each of the film's primary characters to be unlikeable, but not even enough so for me to be invested in wanting to see their failures. I was completely apathetic to it and the only emotion The Tree of Life managed to stir in me was annoyance.

I still have one other first-time watch to get through, but I'd say that this is a pretty strong contender for my least favorite film of this Hall of Fame. Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. I mean, at least it's not a musical.

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